Stretching Time: Quantum Legacies in Analog and Digital Media

Event Information

Jonathan Sterne, Department of Art History and Communication Studies at McGill University, examines the lesser-known work and legacy of Dennis Gabor, a physicist famous for inventing holography. Gabor built a device called the “kinematic frequency compressor,” which could time-stretch or pitch-shift audio independently of the other operation, a feat previously considered impossible in the analog domain. After considering the machine, Sterne traces its technical and cultural descendants in advertising, cinema, avant-garde music, and today in the world’s most popular audio software, Ableton Live.

Co-sponsored by the U-M Digital Studies Workshop, the School of Information, the Department of American Culture, the Department of Communications, the Department of Screen Arts & Cultures and the University Library.

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